1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



595 



cellent in flavor. Prof. Cook thinks that 

 Michigan had aliout half a crop ; about 50 or 

 60 lbs. per colony, be thinks, would be a fair 

 average, one-third comb honey. From this 

 we infer that Michigan people would con- 

 sider 100 lbs. or a little more about a fair 

 average. Friend Pelham, of Kentucky, 

 gives the yield as much above the average, 

 where white clover prevails. Mr. Porter, of 

 Colorado, thinks their yield would run about 

 100 lbs. per colon v. A great deal is gathered 

 from the liocky-Mountain bee-plant in their 

 State. Friend Muth reports the yield good 

 in the southern part of Ohio ; thinks the 

 average would be 130 lb«. per colony, but it is 

 mostly from clover. He says it has been 

 offered for 8 to S^ cents, but advises bee-men 

 to hold their crop rather than sell it at that 

 price. Mr. ^IcKnight gives the report from 

 Canada as over 100 lbs. on an average, aijd 

 reports a total yield of i:il,772 lbs. The honey 

 was from clover, basswood, and Canada this- 

 tles. Canada bee-men winter but little out 

 of doors now. Friend Vandervort, of Penn- 

 sylvania, reports about half a crop. James 

 D. Long, of Quebec, reports a yield of 100 

 lbs. per colony. Friend Ilayhurst, of Miss- 

 ouri, reports the loss, during the past winter, 

 at about 10 per cent, and an increase, during 

 the summer, of 50 per cent, and an average 

 yield per colony, spring count, of 35 lbs. of 

 comb honey, and 30 of extracted. The 

 l)oney is of a superior quality, and principally 

 clover and basswood. r>ut little wax is re- 

 ported ; thinks they have in Missouri about 

 200 practical, progressive bee-men, owning 

 an aggregate of about 20,000 colonies, and 

 thinks perhaps the total- honey crop is not 

 far from 1,300,000 lbs. 



Some of the subjects discussed were as 

 follows: 



HOW HEAVY SHOULD OUR l-^OUNDATION BE? 



Mr. Vandevort says if honey is coming in 

 fast, thin fdn. does very well fbut when the 

 flow is scarce, they are apt to make holes in 

 thin fdn. D. A. Jones prefers about 8 to 9 

 feet to the pound. Mr. Taylor, of Michigan, 

 thought 7 feet to the pound was safer, but 

 considei'ed the form of the cell more impor- 

 tant than the weight. 



INFLUENCE OF THE SOIL ON HONEY. 



Prof. Cook thought that the secretion of 

 honey is an evidence of health in the plant, 

 and this agrees with my experience. If we 

 want spider plant, or any other, to yield 

 large quantities of nectar, the plant must be 

 enriched, and the growth strong. 



DOES IT PAY' TO CULTIVATE HONEY'- 

 PLANTS? 



Xo one could state positively that it ever 

 yet paid to grow plants exclusively for hon- 

 ey. It is well enough to grow honey-plants 

 for the fun of it; but those who wish to do 

 it as a money investment, had better choose 

 some plant that brings a crop aside from 

 the honey. 



TO PREVENT THE LOSS OF (QUEENS. 



D. A. Jones says they breed thousands of 

 queens, and have but little trouble by their 

 missing their hives. They have the hives 

 not much more than 6 feet apart. 



WHAT IS THE BEST WIDTH FOR SECTION 

 BOXES? 



The decision seemed to be about 2 inches, 

 or a little less, where separators are used ; 

 without separators, from U to If inches. A 

 great many are now managing without sep- 

 arators, and it seemed to be the voice of the 

 convention, that, with proper management, 

 separators might be dispensed with, and,' by 

 so doing, a much larger crop of honey be se- 

 cured. 



RIPENING HONEY'. 



Messrs. Hart and Popplpton thought that 

 the sun was the very best agent for the pur- 

 pose. Great care should be exercised in 

 evaporating thin honey over the fire. Mr. 

 Cornell suggested that we should have [a 

 standard specific gravity for honey. Your 

 humble servant suggested that there is a 

 vast difference in this respect, for many of 

 the glass jelly honey-tumblers that hold one 

 pound of California honey could not be made 

 to contain nearly a pound of much of the 

 honey we have in our markets ; and also 

 that honey stored in a deep tank or barrel 

 would be very apt to be heavy on the bot- 

 tom and lighter at the top, the heavier por- 

 tion settling. Mr. McKnight corroborated 

 this statement. Mr. Hart declared that hon- 

 ey will absorb moisture from the atmosphere, 

 if not kept in some dry warm place. Prof. 

 Cook thinks that no man can afford to wait 

 for the bees to ripen the honey, and also 

 states that no honey should be put upon the 

 market until it has a good body. 



TO PREVENT HONEY^ CANDYING. 



Several plans were given, but Mr. Jones 

 thought tliat none of them were sure. Some- 

 times it will not candy, and then again lit 

 will, in spite of treatment. C. C. Miller 

 said, that if you drain ofl: the liquid portion 

 from candied honey, and tlien melt the resi- 

 due, you would get a much finer quality than 

 could be obtained by any other process. ^ I 

 indorse this statement. 



WHAT IS THE BEST TIME FOR INCREASE? 



The question was asked, " If 100 colonies 

 are to be increased to 150, will I get more in- 

 crease by making the increase before, dur- 

 iner. or after the honey-flow?" Prof. Cook 

 said before, if possible ; if not, afterward ; 

 during, never. Miller, Poppleton, and oth- 

 ers, strongly favored during the honey-har- 

 vest. 



WHERE SHALL EXTRA ROOM BE GIVEN — 



OVER A CASE PARTLY FILLED, OR 



UNDER IT? 



J. B. Hall puts the empty sections under 

 the partly filled ones, in the fore part of the 

 season ; but when the crop began to wind 

 up, put them on top. 



(Concluded in next issue.) 



MAPLE SUGAR FOR A "SPRING FEED." 



HOW IT TURNED OUT. 



HREE years before this last, has been a failure 

 with me, my bees always dying in the winter. 

 Last summer, having two empty hives filled 

 with comb, and wishing to save the comb, I conclud- 

 ed to have some bees put into them. Mr. G. Thomp- 



